Actions
Engagement
  • Author Author: tariq.ahmad
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Last Updated Last Updated:
  • Views 1259 views
  • Likes 2 likes
  • Comments 6 comments
Related
Recommended

Community Feedback 03 - Power Safety Concerns!

image

element14's The Ben Heck Show

Join the Ben Heck team every week for amazing hacks! Watch them build and mod community-inspired projects using electronics!

Back to The Ben Heck Show homepage image

Community Feedback
Super Glue Gun
See All Episodes

 

 

Ben and Karen look through suggestions from anywhere on the element14 community on a segment called Community Feedback. This segment focuses on the Super Glue Gun Build after it just got started. Suggestions include putting a "do not try this at home" warning label when attempting to hook up mains to a breadboard in front of an audience, discussing different loads with their glue gun, and an excel sheet to deal with the non-linearity of thermistors.

 

Community Feedback comes from ,  , and !

Congratulations you win a Free Ben Heck T-Shirt!

  was concerned when the team attempted to hook mains up to a breadboard. Ben’s explanation is that he does not consider 120 volts to be that dangerous, when they did the test they made sure that everything was isolated, and that this was the fastest way to hook it up.  Karen parses Ben’s explanation by letting the audience know that while it isn’t the safest method, it’s the fastest method, so don’t try this at home.

 

  suggests that the team talks about different types of loads with their Super Glue Gun.  The glue gun heater coils have low inductance and are mostly resistive. As they get hotter, their resistance changes. So measuring the cold resistance is not the same as the resistance when it is hot. As Ben explains to Karen, we can’t necessarily know what the current draw actually is. It probably won’t make a difference, since they’re using AC, but if the triac is rated lower than what they need, and they are actually drawing more current than they think they’re going to use, then they could blow out the triac. The real problem with electricity is when electricity has no stopping point.

 

In his designs, typically uses 25C NTC thermistors as ambient sensors for oven controllers, while he uses a K thermocouple for the thermal enclosure. He was struck by the non-linearity of the thermistors so he made a spreadsheet, which he offers the team, to help calculate correction factors for Arduino controllers converting the ADC value to a calculated ambient temp.

Parents

  • I've been enjoying the Ben Heck Show Videos for some time, but the tone of this one seemed so peculiar to me that I felt it merited comment.

     

    The video, overall, seemed somewhat... dismissive? That may not be the correct word, but I got the impression that the comments which were discussed in the video were not considered welcome or interesting. Safety concerns are sadly brushed aside more than once, with an accompanying hint of sarcasm, and the comments about the inductive load and the spreadsheet also seemed to elicit little interest from either presenter. Unless I miss my guess, there was even an element of mockery directed towards mr_widget's choice of words in his comment.

     

    Obviously this is all speculation and my personal interpretation of vocal intonation and body language, so it is highly susceptible to bias on my part, but at the very least, I think that if the presenters do not have some enthusiasm for discussing and addressing the comments at hand, then one either needs to defer filming until more interesting comments are available, or the hosts are more interested in the discussion.

     

    You folks do amazing work, and I'm sure your occupations place great demands on your time and energy, I just hope that if these community feedback segments continue, the people filming them will find more satisfaction in doing so.

     

    As regards safety, by way of example, many people who record themselves handling firearms take great pains to visibly and consistently demonstrate safe handling beyond what is strictly necessary in a controlled environment. This enhances their personal safety, but also emphasizes safety culture to the viewer. It may determined that it is neither practical nor important for the Ben Heck Show to do the same, but the cost vs benefit of promoting public safety through enhanced personal safety is worth consideration.

Comment

  • I've been enjoying the Ben Heck Show Videos for some time, but the tone of this one seemed so peculiar to me that I felt it merited comment.

     

    The video, overall, seemed somewhat... dismissive? That may not be the correct word, but I got the impression that the comments which were discussed in the video were not considered welcome or interesting. Safety concerns are sadly brushed aside more than once, with an accompanying hint of sarcasm, and the comments about the inductive load and the spreadsheet also seemed to elicit little interest from either presenter. Unless I miss my guess, there was even an element of mockery directed towards mr_widget's choice of words in his comment.

     

    Obviously this is all speculation and my personal interpretation of vocal intonation and body language, so it is highly susceptible to bias on my part, but at the very least, I think that if the presenters do not have some enthusiasm for discussing and addressing the comments at hand, then one either needs to defer filming until more interesting comments are available, or the hosts are more interested in the discussion.

     

    You folks do amazing work, and I'm sure your occupations place great demands on your time and energy, I just hope that if these community feedback segments continue, the people filming them will find more satisfaction in doing so.

     

    As regards safety, by way of example, many people who record themselves handling firearms take great pains to visibly and consistently demonstrate safe handling beyond what is strictly necessary in a controlled environment. This enhances their personal safety, but also emphasizes safety culture to the viewer. It may determined that it is neither practical nor important for the Ben Heck Show to do the same, but the cost vs benefit of promoting public safety through enhanced personal safety is worth consideration.

Children
No Data